28th Jul 2008 07:00
HOMESERVE PLC
2008 AGM AND INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Homeserve, which is holding its Annual General Meeting today, is publishing an Interim Management Statement for the period 1 April 2008 to date.
First quarter trading results are ahead of last year and in line with our expectations. Our consumer led membership businesses continue to perform well with policy renewals and marketing take up rates not being adversely affected by the current market conditions in Europe and the US.
In our UK Membership businesses, policy acquisitions from our direct marketing and policy retention rates continue to trend in line with previous years. Our customers are responding well to Combined Policies with 10% of them now having such a policy. The operational testing of our 'One Contact' proposition is progressing and we are on schedule to launch a regional pilot in the autumn.
Since the start of the financial year we have increased the number of policies in the US by 53,000 to 415,000 and are achieving a continued improvement in policy retention rates. In early July 2008 we began marketing to customers of Progress Energy and we are continuing to develop our pipeline of new utility partners.
In Spain we will commence marketing with our new partner, Endesa, in the autumn and we are making progress with other potential affinity partners. Our repair network, Reparalia, continues its strong growth record and is now providing claims management services for Banco Santander as a new insurance client.
Our French business, Doméo, has increased policies by 38,000 to 1,218,000 since the year end whilst maintaining its high retention rates. We have made encouraging progress on new business development, with test marketing for a major new household insurance affinity partner to commence in October 2008.
As anticipated, our UK Emergency Services business is seeing reduced volumes of insurance leads, but is making progress in executing the margin improvement plans we have previously announced. Discussions regarding our second hub deal are continuing and we are confident of signing this contract during the first half of this year.
Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged. The business continues to perform well with clear visibility of our future earnings profile and a strong pipeline of future growth opportunities.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of UBS Investment Bank as joint broker to the Company alongside JPMorgan Cazenove.
Enquiries:
Homeserve plc
Brian Whitty, Executive Chairman Tel: 01922 427903
Richard Harpin, CEO
Jonathan Simpson-Dent, CFO
Tulchan
Andrew Honnor Tel: 0207 353 4200
Stephen Malthouse
This Interim Management Statement has been drawn up and presented for the purposes of complying with English law. Any liability arising out of or in connection with this Interim Management Statement will also be determined in accordance with English law.
This Interim Management Statement may contain 'forward-looking statements'. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors beyond Homeserve's control or which cannot be estimated precisely, such as future market conditions and the behaviour of other market participants. Actual outcomes and results may therefore differ materially from any outcomes or results expressed or implied by any such forward-looking statements.
Nothing in this Interim Management Statement is intended to be a profit forecast.
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